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In the 1980s, King frequently traveled to Northern Ireland to meet with IRA members.[13] In 1982, speaking at a pro-IRA rally in Nassau County, New York, King said: “We must pledge ourselves to support those brave men and women who this very moment are carrying forth the struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry.”[13][19] "In 1985, he convened a press conference before the start of New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade (for which he was Grand Marshal), and offered a defiant defense of the IRA: 'As we march up the avenue and share all the joy,' he declared, 'let us never forget the men and women who are suffering and, most of all, the men and women who are fighting.'"[20] Regarding the 30 years of violence during which the IRA killed over 1700 people, including over 600 civilians, King said, ""If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the IRA for it". King compared IRA leader Gerry Adams to George Washington and asserted that the "British government is a murder machine". [21]

He called the IRA "the legitimate voice of occupied Ireland."[22] A Northern Irish judge ordered King ejected from the former's courtroom, describing him as “an obvious collaborator with the IRA”.[13] King called himself "the Ollie North of Ireland."[20] King did not meet Gerry Adams until 1984, four years after his liaison with the IRA began [1]

and before that his links with the IRA were predominantly with its military, rather than the political wing, Sinn Fein. At this time he was friendly with Michael McKevitt, the common law partner of Bernadette Sands, sister of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. McKevitt was at the time a senior leader of the IRA and was its Quarter Master-General, in charge of arms acquisition. McKevitt planned a massive series of arms smuggling operations of weapons provided to the IRA by Libyan leader, Col. Muammar Gaddafi during the mid-1980's. During this time, King would stay in their home in Co. Louth while visiting Ireland and was also very close to the IRA's former Operations Officer in Belfast, Anto Murray, who was convicted in 1990 of kidnapping a suspected British spy. As Belfast Operations Officer, Murray planned or authorised every IRA bombing, shooting and killing in the city. King would stay with Murray and his wife Lucy during visits to Belfast and after Anto Murray was imprisoned, he hosted Lucy Murray on a tour of the Capitol when she visited the United States. [2]

He became involved with NORAID, an organization that the British, Irish and US governments accuse of financing IRA activities and providing them with weapons.[13][23][24][25] He was banned from appearing on British TV for his pro IRA views and refusing to condemn IRA activity in the UK.[13] When the Archbishop of New York embraced King at the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Daily Mail "dedicated an entire editorial to the affair and called it the 'handshake of shame.'"[20]

In 1993, King lobbied for Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to be a guest at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.[20] In 2000, he called then-presidential candidate George W. Bush a tool of "anti-Catholic bigoted forces," after Bush visited Bob Jones University in South Carolina, "an institution that is notorious in Ireland for awarding an honorary doctorate to Northern Ireland's tempestuous Protestant leader, Ian Paisley."[13]

He stopped supporting the IRA after being offended by Irish public opposition to the invasion of Iraq, labelling it as begrudgery rather than suspicion of and opposition to the war.[13]

In 2008, King spoke in defense of bail for a fugitive IRA member, Pól Brennan, who had escaped from prison in the UK and been detained in Texas 15 years later. The IRA member, who had broken out of prison during the Maze Prison escape and entered America illegally,[26] was being held without bail after his work permit expired; King said: "My experience dealing with (Irish) republicans is that they don't jump bail in this country. They honor their commitments."[27]

Re: Rep. Peter King LOVES TERRORISTS!! (as long as they're Catholics)

Nope, you can decline to elect them at the next election. Oh, and if you were really into equitable treatment of terrorists you'd arrest him on various conspiracy, financing and arms smuggling charges and lock him up in a concrete box for 40 years or so.

Oh, sorry, wrong sort of terrorist. My bad.

Bitter, moi?

I have neither the time nor the inclination to differentiate between the incompetent and the merely unfortunate - Curtis E LeMay

Re: Rep. Peter King LOVES TERRORISTS!! (as long as they're Catholics)

Ok, can I just point out that the IRA (and similar splinter groups) are Irish Nationalist/Republican and not Catholic.

Yes, most republicans are Catholics, but there is also a long tradition of Protestant Irish freedom fighters. There would be no bar to a Protestant of any variety joining the IRA or Sinn Fein, just most choose not to do so.

I think that the Church faces enough undeserved flak in the modern age without being labelled as being involved in terrorism.

Also, would not pro-IRA etc be a natural stance for an American, since the founding fathers of the USA were themselves labelled as terrorists by the British and their loyalist supporters?

Re: Rep. Peter King LOVES TERRORISTS!! (as long as they're Catholics)

Originally Posted by Smoking Frog

Ok, can I just point out that the IRA (and similar splinter groups) are Irish Nationalist/Republican and not Catholic.

Yes, most republicans are Catholics, but there is also a long tradition of Protestant Irish freedom fighters. There would be no bar to a Protestant of any variety joining the IRA or Sinn Fein, just most choose not to do so.

I'm well aware of Wolf Tone. But I was more criticizing Peter King's equivocation of terrorism with religion rather than a far more complex socio-economic web, as evidenced by a certain "Christian" Norwegian sociopathic ****wit. In any case, yes, there are Protestants in the IRA/Sinn Fein (Anglican mainly) and always have been. As far as the sectarian angle, you might have had a better point prior to the 1968 "Battle of Bogside," where the Provos essentially splintered and became a defacto Catholic ghetto militia....

I think that the Church faces enough undeserved flak in the modern age without being labelled as being involved in terrorism.

As a Catholic in recovery, I don't think they can get enough flak to an extent...

Also, would not pro-IRA etc be a natural stance for an American, since the founding fathers of the USA were themselves labelled as terrorists by the British and their loyalist supporters?

Well, the interesting thing is that the IRA killed their own combination George Washington/Thomas Jefferson/Nathaniel Greene/Daniel Morgan in 1921 (General Michael Collins). So their revolution tends to eat its children more than ours' did.

As to whether the Crown ever referred to us colonists in rebellion as "terrorists", I do not know. I think the word had a different connotation then. And yes, terrorism was used by both sides of the American Revolutionary War, and away from the glorious battlefield victories and defeats of the Continental Army and the British Army, there was certainly a dirty war of reprisals carried out by marauding militias and sympathizers of both Tory Loyalists and American Patriots. But your wider point of "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" is taken, even though I hate such aphorisms. But certainly, terrorists/insurgents/guerrillas don't just come out of a vacuum of evil sadists. They start for a reason that may be a legitimate cause or a fools mate...

Re: Rep. Peter King LOVES TERRORISTS!! (as long as they're Catholics)

As the Irish 'comedien' Dara O'Brien said "You could change your name to Mohammed, go to Afghanistan and join the Taliban and you would only ever be referred to as a 'bad Catholic'" (Not that I approve of his take on the religion)

Having been born & raised RC I have seen it help my folks through loss and bereavement, so I do get very protective of the Church...sorry